1: greatness of size or mass: volume2: a large body or mass3: the main or greater part

How do you use it?

In Jonathan Swift's _Gulliver's Travels_, Gulliver tells of how the tiny people called Lilliputians fed him, saying, "They supplied me as they could, showing a thousand marks of wonder and astonishment at my bulk and appetite."

Are you a word wiz?

There are other words Gulliver could have used instead of "bulk" to get across his idea. Which of the following words do you think is a synonym of "bulk"?

A. mass

B. amount

C. grace

D. strength

If you picked A from the bulk of answers above, you picked right! "Bulk," "mass," and "volume" mean "the collection or sum of parts or units that forms a body or unit." "Bulk" implies parts or units that form something impressively large, heavy, or numerous, as in "the bulk of the ship." "Mass" suggests a collection or sum that is made by piling together things of the same kind, as in "a mass of boulders." "Volume" applies to things that are without shape or outline and that are capable of flowing or fluctuating, as in "a tremendous volume of water."